HUNTSVILLE, AL -- When it comes to shaking hands in Huntsville, Ron Sparks appears to have an insider's advantage over Robert Bentley.

"I've hunted and fished the waters of North Alabama," said Sparks in an early October interview. "Huntsville is sort of like home, and I understand it."

Sparks, the Democratic candidate for governor, grew up just over 60 miles away in Fort Payne. He said he worked for a year at a bank in downtown Huntsville.

Bentley, the Republican nominee and a dermatologist from Tuscaloosa, is not nearly so familiar with the area. During a September interview regarding Huntsville, Bentley said Huntsville needs road improvements to attract military jobs, but he was unable to name a specific local road project.

However, Bentley did say he would include someone from Huntsville in his Cabinet. "But I'm not going to tell you who it is yet," he said.

Huntsville, with its connection to Washington, has not always had the most prosperous relationship with Montgomery.

"Historically, it's been an up-and-down relationship," said Mike Gillespie, chairman of the Madison County Commission. "Recently, I think the state and the legislative body and the governor's office have realized the importance of Madison County to the state economy."

Both candidates say Huntsville today is a top priority for Alabama, as high-paying defense and aerospace jobs pump tax dollars into a sagging state budget.

But Bentley said that message is not necessarily reaching everyone in Montgomery.

"It's really not, because I don't think enough people come up there. It's amazing what's going on up there," said Bentley, a state representative for Tuscaloosa. "The word is going to spread more if I become governor, because I've been very impressed."

Sparks was more specific about recent growth in the area. "What really excites me about Huntsville is to think of that four-star general coming into Huntsville."

Sparks was referring to Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the commander of the Army Materiel Command, who will move to Redstone Arsenal from northern Virginia in 2011. The AMC is the biggest of several commands moved here through the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, decision, bringing up to 15,000 government and contractor jobs.

Gillespie said the main thing Montgomery can do for this city is to help build roads to meet such growth. "That is absolutely the biggest priority from my standpoint."

Joe Vallely, the city's director of economic development, said the last of thousands of new jobs with BRAC should be in place by the spring, creating pressure on roads, schools and services. He said relations with the state Department of Transportation have improved in the last couple of years but could be better.

"We just want the next governor to understand when he invests in Huntsville that he helps the whole state," Vallely said.

Both candidates for governor credited economic growth here to Huntsville's unified political and business representation. And both men agree that road improvements are essential to sustaining that growth.

When asked about particular needs, the different levels of familiarity with the city became apparent.

"We should look at Rideout Road," replied Sparks when asked about his top two infrastructure priorities in Huntsville. "There was a proposal to bring that road across the arsenal."

Planners are now considering alternate designs that create a southern bypass along the eastern edge of Redstone Arsenal. Sparks said the project should be fast-tracked.

After that, Sparks kept going, mentioning speeding up work to widen Winchester Road. He said improvements at U.S. 72 at Moores Mill Road need to happen in one or two years, rather than three or four.

Then he called for speeding up plans to complete a northern bypass, build an overpass at Memorial Parkway and Mountain Gap Road and possibly an overpass at Memorial Parkway and Winchester Road.

"The other thing is we need to do a study on the Atlanta-to-Memphis road," said Sparks, suggesting that improving and widening some segments could accelerate plans for the decades-old interstate proposal.

When asked the same question about top priorities for road improvements in Huntsville, Bentley said: "We need to look at the five-year plan for roads."

Unlike Sparks, Bentley did not list specific projects. "I had the printout the other day," he said. He said his top priority for Huntsville would include areas related to ingress and egress at Redstone Arsenal.

"As governor I'm going to make sure that those road projects are completed," Bentley said. "I want to promise the people of the Huntsville area that as governor I will see those road projects are completed."

In the past, Gillespie said, Huntsville hasn't always received the same incentives to lure defense jobs that the state has used to recruit automakers and plants elsewhere.

"They have certainly helped, but in my opinion, there could have been more," he said. "We almost get penalized for doing things right."

Joe Ritch, head of the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee, agreed that the state never put the resources into BRAC that were used to lure automakers and other companies. He said the next governor needs to help prepare for the next round of BRAC.

And both candidates say they will treat BRAC as an industrial development project. Sparks said the state should do the same elsewhere, improving infrastructure to attract more military jobs at Fort Rucker.

"Infrastructure is vital to making sure when we renegotiate BRAC that we will get approval for the Huntsville area," Bentley said, adding that the state needs to ensure that all local schools and two-year colleges are adequately funded.